Tips for Creating a Successful History Day Entry
Written By: Anne Hawkins, for the KHS, Education/Outreach Division
Tip 1: Analysis and Interpretation
One of the most important features of a good History Day entry—perhaps the key component which
makes a Superior entry stand apart from an Excellent one—is, oddly enough, one of the most
uncommon and overlooked aspects of an entry. Your analysis of your research findings, your
interpretation of what happened (or how or why), is your job as a historian. This means going
beyond reporting the known facts of a topic in history. You should develop your own conclusions
about your topic, based solidly upon the research you’ve done. History is not set in stone,
unchanging, undebatable. It is fluid, dynamic, changing whenever a new document comes to light
or a new interpretation on the acknowledged historical facts is presented. For instance, the fact that
President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 is an undisputed fact.
Our interpretation of the meaning of that proclamation, Lincoln’s motives in issuing it, and the
significance of the proclamation to African Americans has changed over time. This is where your
work is important: not to merely report facts, but to analyze them and interpret them for your
audience, so that readers or viewers come away from your work knowing something new about that
topic in history.
When you create a History Day entry, assume three roles for yourself: that of a reporter, a detective
and a storyteller. Most History Day projects do a superb job of answering the questions of a
reporter. Most excellent projects consider the questions of a detective. Outstanding History Day
entries go further—they include the questions of the storyteller as well. This process of analyzing
and interpreting your research is depicted in the chart at the end of this guide.
In your entry, the written materials which accompanying it, and your answers to judges’ (or
audience questions, you should demonstrate that you’ve reached your own conclusions about your
historical topic (interpretation) and how you reached them (analysis). What is the main argument
that you want to make in your project—your thesis? How are your conclusions about the subject
distinct from those of other historians who have studied this topic? How are your conclusions
different from those of some primary observers of the time period?
Tip 2: Substantive Research
You will need to research broadly and deeply, in order to have quality research findings to analyze
and a good-enough grasp of the known facts to develop your own interpretations of the historical
topic. Keep three descriptors in mind as you are researching: Primary, Wide-Ranging, and
Balanced.
Successful History Day entries rely upon the evidence of first-hand observers of the historical event.
These observers may have taken photographs, written letters or diary entries, enacted legislation,
given a speech, completed a government document, kept organizational minutes, drawn a cartoon,
created a song or painting, made a tool or other artifact, submitted an advertisement to a
publication, written a reference guide (a cookbook, a pamphlet on treating medical ailments at
home, a guide for immigrants), or reported about an event for a newspaper or broadcast. These
primary sources, among others, are not only necessary to a successful project; they are also
engaging, interesting, puzzling and fun. They can provide you with information you can’t find
anywhere else on your topic. Because every historian interprets differently the evidence s/he finds,
you may not be able to find unusual information about your topic by relying completely on
secondary sources, which are the writings of other historians (or non-participants in the historical
event) who have studied the primary-source evidence. Be careful not to confuse primary sources
with secondary sources! If you need help distinguishing between the two, ask your teacher or your
State History Day Coordinator for help, or consult a reference book such as A Student’s Guide to
History by Jules R. Benjamin (Bedford St. Martins, 8/ed, 2001).
Wide-ranging research is important. Study secondary sources thoroughly while looking for primary
sources. Secondary sources will give you a good information base for your research, in addition to
telling you the interpretations and viewpoints of other historians. If you are to add something new to
the body of knowledge on your topic—as superior History Projects do—you’ll need to know what
other historians have written about that same topic. Footnotes and bibliographies in secondary
sources are often the best place to start looking for primary sources—these citations can often point
you directly to a document or archive, telling you right where to look for more in-depth information
on a specific fact. As you look for primary-source evidence, be sure to look in a wide range of
places: libraries (rare book rooms or sound/video recordings collections are often great, under-used
sources), archives, historical societies, government records offices, and reliable internet sites.
Relying on just one place for your information—the internet, for example—makes it more difficult for
you to find evidence that’s broad enough or deep enough to develop good conclusions about your
topic.
Balanced research means that you have looked for multiple viewpoints from historical observers of
the time period. Sometimes these views oppose each other: for example, the perspective of activist
Ida B. Wells on lynching would not have been shared by a leader of the Ku Klux Klan. Even people
who fought on the same side of an issue or worked together on a project could have differing
perspectives on their work or their cause. You’ll want to actively look for many viewpoints, and
consider the evidence of those views, which don’t support the conclusions you are leaning toward
or with which you disagree. As you study and analyze these perspectives, ask yourself:
 Believability: Is this source credible? Is this person knowledgeable about the event?
What are their values, beliefs or experiences, which had an affect on their perspective?
Am I looking at this person’s complete message, or just a piece of what this person
wrote or said? Are these the original words of the source, or has someone else edited or
translated them? Be on your guard not to believe everything you read or see—study
critically.
 Purpose: Why was this document created? What was its intended purpose? Who was
the source addressing with these words (or images)? Did the source want to convince or
persuade people with this message? Did s/he intend for this information to be kept
private, or publicly known?
 Context: What is the historical context for this source? What was going on in history at
the time this evidence was created? What happened in history before and after this
person created this piece of evidence? What were the customs, traditions or beliefs of
people in the source’s society (or community) at the time?
Tip 3: Significance and Effect
You can demonstrate your well-developed analytical and interpretive skills by paying close attention
to the significance of your topic in history. Addressing significance means answering the question,
“So what?” about the facts you’ve researched. “So what if this event had never occurred?” “So what
if this leader had made a different decision?” “So what about our lives are different because of the
actions of the people connected with this topic?” You must explain how your topic is important, what
effect it made on history. While your research topic may be fascinating and not well-known, and you
earnestly believe that more people should know about the subject, that alone doesn’t convey the
significance of that subject in history. You must emphasize how history was changed or affected by
the persons or events you’ve chosen to research.
Resist the temptation to wait until the end of your presentation to explain your topic’s significance, in
the way a mystery writer reveals only at the end of a story how important facts fit together. State
early in your entry how your subject is significant or affected history in important ways. This will be
one of the key messages you will want your audience to remember about your work. Include
significance and effect in your thesis statement at the beginning of your project, and emphasize
significance again near the end.
Tip 4: Historical Context
No historical person, place or event operated in isolation, unaffected by other events taking place
around it. Forces of history—the political, economic, legal, social, cultural and intellectual realities of
the time period—affected the topic you are researching. Explain in your work what those forces
were, the context of your topic. Discuss what was taking place in the larger world around, and
outside of, your topic. Was there a larger movement or trend taking place during this time period, of
which your topic was a part? Or does your topic seem to reverse a trend of its time or challenge a
larger movement? What was going on in history before the time period involving your topic—out of
what political atmosphere or legal climate, for instance, did your topic emerge?
Studying what was happening in history at the time of your event helps you determine your topic’s
significance. Context helps you understand the effect your topic had on history. Explaining your
topic’s historical context also helps your audience better understand your work and make
connections between your topic and other events in history.
Tip 5: Historical Accuracy
You can avoid most errors of fact in your work by researching as many details about your subject
as possible. Detailed research can also help you make educated interpretations if some of the
“facts” you uncover contradict one another. If you make an assumption about what you believe
happened, based upon your study of the evidence, you should say so directly. This not only
demonstrates that you have analyzed and interpreted your research (Tip #1), but clarifies for your
audience that this is your educated theory rather than an undisputed historical fact.
Be very careful not to make cause-and-effect assumptions without the evidence to directly support
those statements. If you conclude, “The American colonists wrote the Declaration of Independence
in 1776. From then on, they were free of the tyranny of an English monarch,” you must provide
detailed evidence from your research to back up your statement. Without supporting evidence or
detailed explanation, a cause-and-effect assumption is really a hasty generalization—and it will call
attention to itself in your work as a place where more research needed to be done. If you find you
can’t explain with solid evidence a point you wish to make, than you should rethink your analysis of
your research on this point to avoid historical inaccuracy.